


Snapshots

by UFO_Spotter26



Series: Always on My Mind [1]
Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F, Fluff, Friends to More Than Friends, Growing Up Together, M/M, Minor Injuries, the gang as kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23374666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UFO_Spotter26/pseuds/UFO_Spotter26
Summary: Just small clips of Kelsey and Aleen a growing up and realizing why they like hanging out with each other a bit more than hanging out with the boys.
Relationships: Aleena (Tiny Meat Gang)/Kelsey Kreppel, Background Noel Miller/Cody Ko
Series: Always on My Mind [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683502
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Snapshots

**Author's Note:**

> Finally wrote the thing I've been wanting to write for a while thanks to this quarantine.

"Um, Kelsey, I don't think we should be going up there," Aleena says. 

"Come on up, it'll be fun," she says. 

The rain around them sprinkles down and Cody and Noel follow close behind her in their red and blue rain coats. Aleena stands on the ground, the pink hood of her raincoat pulled over her head. Kelsey climbed up up carefully onto the top of the roof, "come on, we can see everything up here! Come on up you guys!"

They climb up faster and look off the roof. Noel smiles, "you look so tiny from up here, Aleena!"

"You're an idiot, and you guys are gonna fall, get down," Aleena says. 

"We're fine," Cody tells her, "we're not gonna fall."

Cody stands close to Kelsey but the rain had made one particular tile slick and Cody loses his balance, "Noel!"

Noel grabs his hand and Cody holds onto the roof with his other hand. He smiles when he's okay and he slowly stands back up. Aleena looks worried, "are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," he smiles, holding onto Noel, "let's just not let go of each other, okay?"

Noel nods and Aleena shakes her head, "you need to get down from there or your mom is gonna get mad at us. You could fall and break something!" 

"We're fine up here," Kelsey says, "we didn't even fall."

"Aleena might be right. Maybe we should get down," Noel says, "it is pretty slippery up here."

Kelsey frowns but finally heads back over, balancing on the tip of the roof, arms out. She's good at it, she's done it before when it was summer. She looks up at the sky, rain falling on her face as the boys turn to her. Cody speaks up, "we can always have fun inside. Come on, let's go and watch cartoons. Your mom said she was making us cookies."

She walks to the other edge of the house on the very top and watches the wind blow the trees. Noel helps Cody down and gets down as he turns to her, "come down, Kels."

The sky turns purple when there's a flash and a trail of white hits the tree in the yard next to them, making them all jump as the clap of thunder soon follows, she loses her footing and slips off the roof, catching herself on the edge. The panic sets in and Cody and Noel get back on top and head towards her, "Kelsey!"

She turns to look at the tree, watching it smoke slightly and she looks back up seeing Noel and Cody on the edge of the house holding out their arms. She takes Noel's hand before reaching for Cody's hand. The rain seems to be coming down harder and they try to pull her up. The rain slid down their arms and hands making it harder to hold onto her. Kelsey could feel the fear of falling kicking in an the strange sensation of not having solid ground under her feet. And even though they had a tight grip on her arms she could tell this wasn't going to end well.

"Pull her up, you idiots" Aleena shouts. 

They pull her up, but even though she isn't that heavy the rain makes her slip faster. They grip tighter to get her up but she slips through their fingers and they're forced to watch her body land in the grass and mud while one leg is hitting the pile of toys nearby. The air is silent, the crack of lightning and the sound of thunder gone. And for a moment it felt like their world stood still. And when everything was completely quiet and the rain wasn't as loud as it had been for a while Kelsey's scream was the only sound ringing through their ears.

The next time they saw her she was smiling in a hospital bed with a pink and yellow cast around her leg. Aleena looks a little upset but Cody and Noel are beaming back at Kelsey and going over to touch her cast. Cody pokes it with his finger, "does it hurt?"

Kelsey hisses in pain before seeing their faces and laughing, "no, it doesn't. I'm fine!" 

Noel laughs and nudges Cody with his elbow before they both poke it, "I can't really feel anything through it. The doctor said I'm gonna be on crutches for a while."

"Do you wanna sign my cast," she asks Aleena, holding out a marker for her. She looks at it for a minute before speaking, "you could have died!"

"Yeah, but I didn't. I just broke my leg. I'll be fine."

"You can't get on the roof again, what if you fall again and you break something else? Or die?"

"I wont."

"You can't go on that roof again," she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kelsey laughs until she sees Aleena isn't laughing, "if you get on that roof again we're not friends anymore."

She looks at her cast before looking back to Aleena and sighing, "okay. I wont go on the roof anymore."

Aleena takes the marker from her and begins writing on her thigh where Kelsey would be able to see it every day. 

**Be More Careful. I don't want to lose my best friend. - Love Aleena XOXO**

She smiles and Aleena hugs her while Kelsey frowns, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

Aleena shrugs, whispering, "I'm sorry I didn't go up to save you."

"Can I sign your cast too," Cody asks when they pull back from each other. 

"Me too," Noel nods. 

She hands the marker to them and Cody smiles as he writes.

**We're sorry we dropped you. We will not do that again. We will get stronger. - Cody :) <3 <3**

**I promise we'll get stronger. - Noel :) Ps We love you.**

She smiles and they hug her, "don't feel too bad. You guys are strong, we were just slippery from the rain."

They nod still looking as if they feel guilty. She smiles, "you know, my mom and dad went to go get me cafeteria food. And the nurses wont be back to check on me for a while. There's some wheelchairs in the hallway. Wanna race them?"

Aleena smiles and Noel's eyes widen in realization, "we can use my camera to take pictures. My mom got it for me." 

They help Kelsey into the hallway and put her in a wheelchair before rolling her around. Aleena takes Noel's camera and they race towards her as she raises the camera. She laughs and the boys push Kelsey faster as she snaps the picture.

\---

"Hurry," Kelsey says, climbing fast up the ladder into the tree house. 

Cody is quick to climb up while Aleena heads up with Noel following behind her. When they're inside Kelsey takes her crayon box from her back pack and hands it to Noel and paper to Cody before she takes the box of beads out, "you guys can color while me and Aleena play with this."

The boys lay on the floor and look to each other when Cody frowns, "what are you gonna draw?" 

"You," Noel says as if it's obvious. 

Cody smiles, "okay, I'll draw you!"

They begin coloring together and Kelsey opens the box of beads, "what colors do you want in your hair?"

"Pink and orange and white, "what colors are you gonna pick?" 

"I think I want pink and purple," she says, "and blue."

She takes a thin strip of Aleena's hair sliding the beads up and clipping them in before moving to different strips. When she finishes clipping some more Aleena turns to face her and starts clipping a few in her hair, "do you think we'll be best friends forever?"

"Obviously," Kelsey says, "we made friendship bracelets. That means we have to be friends forever."

"I didn't get one," Cody frowns. 

"I'll make you one," Noel says, "when we get back inside I can make you one and you can make me one."

He smiles, "okay."

The boys go back to coloring and Noel looks over at Cody before scooting closer to him. Kelsey looks to them and wonders if they'll be friends forever like her an Aleena will be. 

"I don't ever want us to stop being friends," Aleena says, looking at Kelsey. 

She turns back to look at her before smiling and hugging her tight, "we wont stop being friends." 

She hugs her back even tighter and when they pull away they keep putting beads in each others hair until a camera flashes from the doorway. 

\---

Aleena sits across from Noel while everyone takes pictures of them spinning slowly in the giant teacups. She's bored and from the looks of it Noel is too. She looks over watching Kelsey and Cody's teacup spin around fast as they're screaming. It looks like fun and Aleena wished she were Cody. She watches them giggling and spinning until Noel's sighing, "I wish I was in _that_ teacup."

"Me too," she says.

They slow the teacups down to a stop and they all get off, Cody and Kelsey laughing as they headed over to Noel and Aleena. She smiles, "that was so much fun, we have to do that again."

"Maybe later," Aleena says, "my dress is annoying me."

"Mine too," she says, "you guys are so lucky you get to wear suits."

"You guys are lucky you don't have to wear pants," Noel says. 

Cody nods and Kelsey smiles, "what if we all switched clothes?"

Cody shrugs and Noel nods, "I guess we can."

They head off to another room and take a towel from the cabinet before the girls go to one room and the boys go to another. The girls unzip each other and when their underwear is off they wrap a towel around themselves before grabbing their clothes and heading into the next room. Cody and Noel take a little longer but soon come out with towels wrapped around them. They swap clothes, Noel taking Aleena's and Cody taking Kelsey's. When they go back to their room to change the girls slip on the underwear and smile. Kelsey nods, "this is really comfy."

"They are," Aleena says. 

They pull up the pants and fix their socks before buttoning up their shirts and fixing the jacket and tie. Soon they walk out and when they look at each other they're smiling. Aleena points, "you two look cute."

"You guys do too," Noel says.

They pick up the hats and flower crowns and switch with each other before heading outside. Cody shifts next to Noel, "this underwear keeps giving me a wedgie."

"Me too," Noel says. 

They head back to the teacups and get on, earning a few looks from other parents. But soon they're both spinning wildly around the other slow cups and laughing loud. They get dizzy quickly and Aleena's happier than she was in the slow cup. When they get out the girls are holding onto each other, Kelsey's hand in hers and it feels good. It feels right, and even though she was best friends with Cody and Noel it didn't feel like this when they held her hand. Kelsey smiles, "that was way better with you than it was with Cody."

"That was more fun with you than Noel," she smiles, "wanna do it again?" 

"And keep going until we get sick?"

She nods and soon they hear a woman's voice, "you four! Why on Earth are you wearing each other's clothes?" 

They shrug and she shakes her head with an amused grin as she raises her camera, "well...smile!" 

They're grinning and they hear the click of the camera.

\---

Kelsey looks over her shoulder at Aleena before walking over and zipping up the shimmery gold dress for her. Aleena turns and zips Kelsey up before she's taking mascara to her eyelashes while Kelsey takes Aleena's red lipstick and spreads it across her lips, "so, do you think Noel's gonna kiss you tonight?"

And Aleena doesn't feel like touching that question. She shrugs and instead answer with a question, "do you think Cody'll kiss you?"

She gives a shrug back, "I don't know."

She closes the mascara and Kelsey walks over to the vanity. A question burned inside Aleena, she didn't want to know the answer but she had to know, "well, do you want him to kiss you?"

"I haven't thought about it," she says, "but I mean, he's nice. Don't you think?"

And she can't disagree with that so she gives a nod, "yeah, he's great. I love Cody, you know? He's sweet, he's cute."

"So is Noel," Kelsey says, putting Aleena's lipstick on herself, "oh, sorry I didn't ask. Is it okay if I use your lipstick?"

"Obviously," she says giving a laugh.

She watches it glide across Kelsey's bottom lip and she wonders how soft said lips would be against her own. The cap on the tube clicks before she's spraying perfume on her wrists and rubbing them together. She spritzes some on her neck before turning to Aleena and walking over. She reaches out, touching her hair with a smile, "you look really good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she says, "you'll probably end up with a crown and a boyfriend after this dance."

She gives a weak smile and soon they head downstairs meeting Cody and Noel who were stood nervously by Kelsey and Aleena's parents. Their parents took a few pictures of them together before they were driven to the dance and dropped off. They head inside and watched as the other students danced. They sat at their tables to the side awkwardly, until Kelsey could hear Noel talking to Cody, "you going to ask one of the girls to dance?"

"Are you," he says, turning to look at him. 

Noel turns to Kelsey with a certain confidence, "wanna dance?"

She looks to Aleena who nods and the two stand up and head to the dance floor. Noel's hands are on her waist while hers were on his shoulders. They moved side to side, not really dancing, more swaying and not really meeting each other's eyes. Kelsey looks to Aleena and Cody sitting beside each other talking. Noel sighs, "so, when are you going to tell her?"

"When are you going to tell Cody," she asks, meeting his eyes.

He gives a small laugh before nodding, "alright, so what should we do? What are we gonna do?"

"She likes guys. I'm not a guy," she says, "not much I can do except support her and whatever dumb guy she falls for. What about you, what are you gonna do?"

"Probably just keep it to myself, probably try not to get too drunk or too high around him, you know? I don't wanna slip up, say something I'll regret. I love him, you know?"

"I know."

"I can't ever lose him," he says in a hushed tone, "I'd rather just live with the feeling forever."

They continue dancing in silence, and she doesn't know what to say to him. She doesn't know how to make him feel better. When she looks to Aleena imagining herself saying nothing, doing nothing and watching her while she falls for some guy she realizes she can't do it. The thought of it kills her and she knows she's got to say something, she's got to do something. She shakes her head when the song ends and looks to him finally meeting his eyes, "fuck that."

They head back to the table and Kelsey heads over to Aleena, "I need you to come with me."

"What," she asks, "where?"

"It's important. I have to tell you something and I don't want to do it here."

"Okay," she nods, "yeah, okay."

She stands up and turns to the guys, "we'll be right back." 

Noel nods and looks to Cody offering his hand, "you wanna dance?"

He grins up and him and stands and Kelsey's taking Aleena's hand and pulling her out of the gym into the girls locker room. When they're alone she turns to Aleena and lets out a slow breath watching her cross her arms over her chest, "well? What is it?"

"So, I was dancing with Noel and we talked for a second about feelings, sort of, kind of. And I realized I couldn't just hold in everything anymore, I realized our time on Earth is short and why waste it just not telling someone my feelings, you know? Why shouldn't I put myself out there? If they like me they like me and if they don't they don't and I'm justwhat? What is it, you're looking at me like I'm crazy. Am I talking too fast? I'm just kind of fucking nervous here."

"I get it," she says, "you and Noel are cute together. You don't have to worry about me getting in the way, I'm not interested in him. I'm not in love with him like you think."

"No," she shakes her head, "ew, I wasn'tI'm not-"

"Because I'm in love with you," Aleena says, fidgeting with her fingers and meeting her eyes. 

And Kelsey stops talking. Everything in her body feels as though it's all stopped and when she's finally able to register the fact that she needs to breathe Aleena's speaking, "so you don't have to worry about me being mad at you or anything with that whole situation."

"You're in love with," she trails off and Aleena looks ashamed as she sits down on the bench with a small nod. 

"Yeah," she says, "but you don't have to worry about me like, being weird around you. I know you're not like me so you don't have to say anything. I just wanted to say it because you're right. Our time here is short."

Kelsey sits beside her and Aleena gives a forced smile, "do you think you might still wanna be friends with me?"

She gives a small laugh before shaking her head, "Aleena, I wanna be _more than friends_ with you."

She looks up and Kelsey surges forward, lips pressing against hers. She doesn't know how to kiss, neither of them really do but it still feels right. It still feels like the perfect first kiss. Their hands move to each other's face, holding their cheeks and kissing through the happy tears that fall down them. When they pull back they're giggling and Kelsey looks over her, "your mascara's gonna run, we should probably fix it."

"I think I smeared your lipstick," she smiles. 

They give a laugh and head over to the mirrors, cleaning their faces. Aleena puts her arms around her and kisses her again. Their lips move with each other this time and it's even better than the first one. They both knew it was coming so they could prepare to kiss back. When they pull away Kelsey's reapplying their mascara while Aleena's doing their lipstick. When they're done Kelsey holds out her hand, "come on, let's dance."

They head back to the dance floor to find Noel and Cody slow dancing. They head beside them, dancing and twirling each other with smiles on their faces while everyone else danced slow and serious. Aleena turns upon hearing Cody speak, "this slow pace is making me tired, I could go for a nap."

Noel pulls him forward and Cody rest his head on his shoulder while he's got him as close as he can get him resting his head on his shoulder. Aleena raises a brow and turns back to Kelsey who nods with a whisper, "yeah, I know, I'll tell you about it later."

The hear a voice over the mic, "the photographer has finally arrived, would you please line up to have your pictures made?"

The boys and girls line up and they're happy they were first so they could get it over with. The man smiles, "if you boys could get behind your girlfriends that would be great."

"Um, actually," Kelsey says, "could they get in front us. We're not dating, we're all just friends. And my mom would love it if we did the reverse pose."

He shrugs and Aleena gets behind Noel while Kelsey is behind Cody. They put their arms around their waists and the boys are beaming at the camera before it clicks. Before the photographer can wave to the next couples Aleena speaks, "do you think we could get one of just me and Kelsey?"

The guy looks as if he's about to say no but Kelsey juts out her bottom lip, "please?"

He looks to Aleena who's mimicking her face and he sighs, "fine, quickly."

They wrap their arms around each other and he nods, "on three."

They turn to each other and smile.

"One."

Eyes lock, ice blue meeting warm brown.

"Two."

They lean in, lips meeting as the sounds around them are disappearing as if they're the only ones in the room.

"Three."

**Click!**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
